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Denver Broncos / NFL

Super reception by Shannon Sharpe with 1997 AFC title at stake

Posted:
01/04/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

With the Broncos in the NFL playoffs for the first time since the 2005 season, The Denver Post will look back each day this week on a previous appearance:

The Broncos have faced the Steelers more than any other team in the postseason, six playoff meetings total heading into a seventh Sunday. None was bigger in franchise history than the AFC championship game Jan. 11, 1998, a victory that sent the Broncos to the Super Bowl against Green Bay.

Denver won the AFC title game 24-21 and became one of the few wild-card teams to reach the Super Bowl.

The Broncos were clinging to their 24-21 lead late in the fourth quarter when they faced a third-and-5 situation at their 15-yard line on the first play after the two-minute warning.

They needed a conversion to keep the Steelers from having a shot at a tying or winning scoring drive.

In the huddle, quarterback John Elway told tight end Shannon Sharpe to just "get open" on an improvised play.

Sharpe did that in the middle of the field. His 18-yard reception was worth a first down and enabled the Broncos to run out the clock. Sharpe has since described that catch as one of the biggest in his Hall of Fame career.

"We were ahead, but Pittsburgh had all the momentum. John goes back and I know he's going to target Shannon because he trusts Shannon to come up with the play. He hits him on about a 5-yard hitch. Shannon catches it and turns it into a first down," former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan told The Denver Post last summer before Sharpe's Hall of Fame induction ceremony. "That was a pivotal game because it led to our first Super Bowl (title). That play was definitely the turning point in that game."

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.